Yellow River Bianjing Xu Family Street

Author: Li Chi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: The ancient city of Kaifeng is renowned both at home and abroad for being the capital of the Song Dynasty. The city of Bianliang was not only the political, economic, and cultural center of the Song Dynasty but also remained conveniently accessible, with well-developed waterways and thriving commerce for a long time afterward. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, merchants traveling from all directions once gathered here, establishing guilds and constructing meeting halls. Among them, merchants from Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces built the Shanxi-Shaanxi-Gansu Guild Hall. This book sets the historical backdrop of the commercial and economic development of Kaifeng during the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as the rise and fall of the Jin merchants, by describing the elegant and exquisite architectural complex of the Shanxi-Shaanxi-Gansu Guild Hall, its exquisite wood carvings, stone carvings, and brick carvings known as the "Three Perfections," as well as narrating the long-standing stories of the guild hall. Through these descriptions, the Shanxi-Shaanxi-Gansu Guild Hall becomes a mirror reflecting the economic and social landscape of Kaifeng during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Architecture is solidified history. The Shanxi-Shaanxi-Gansu Guild Hall not only records the glorious past of Kaifeng but also documents its history of suffering. More importantly, it preserves the inspiring, precious, and irreplaceable history that deserves to be cherished and treasured.